[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-090101suspect.story[/url]

James Allen Beck had a love of guns, a desire to be a cop and an inability to get along with others.

That potent combination would land him in trouble again and again with the law. On Friday it got him killed.

Beck, a 35-year-old former Arcadia police officer, opened fire on a team of law enforcement agents, killing one of them, as they approached his house to search it for illegal firearms.

He had attracted the attention of federal authorities because he had told neighbors that he was a deputy U.S. marshal and that he had a stockpile of weapons in his house.

Beck explained his daytime presence around the Stevenson Ranch development by telling neighbors he worked in law enforcement at night.

But some of them didn't buy it. They said they resented his occasionally surly demeanor, the way he'd tell them to get off his property and threaten to use his badge against them. Some began videotaping his movements and checked him out with federal authorities.

The authorities weren't surprised. They say they knew he had impersonated a police officer before. They also knew he had a long criminal record, including several weapons violations.

In the 1980s, Beck applied at several local police departments before being accepted by the Arcadia force in 1987.

He loved going on night patrol through the relatively sleepy streets of the San Gabriel Valley city, colleagues said.

But Beck seemed to clash repeatedly with other officers, and was dismissed in August 1988, even before he could finish his 18-month probationary period. Along the way, in what fellow officers decided was an attempt to impress them, he told the department he had finished 37th in the 1988 Los Angeles Marathon, ultimately receiving an award from the mayor and chief of police of Arcadia. After they fired him, officials discovered he had not even entered the race.

By 1990, Beck had begun racking up a long string of arrests and convictions.

He was convicted at least three times and ordered to serve a total of more than 10 years in prison, said Supervising Deputy U.S. Marshal William Woolsey, a spokesman for the federal marshals office. It was not known how many years he ultimately served, authorities said.

According to law enforcement and court records, Beck was first convicted in 1990 for receiving stolen property--a Remington 870 shotgun and a .25-caliber Baretta. He was also convicted of grand theft, firearms violations and fraudulent use of someone else's credit card, on which he charged more than $1,300. He was sentenced to two years in state prison.

In the years that followed, Beck was arrested numerous other times: on suspicion of possession of firearms, receiving stolen property, carrying firearms in public, impersonating a police officer and being a felon in possession of an assault weapon.

He was again sentenced to prison, this time for four years, law enforcement and court records show.

In late 1992, Beck was convicted again, of first-degree residential burglary with the intent to commit larceny. Court documents say he broke into a trailer. That time, he was sentenced to six years in state prison.

continued

It is not known what became of Beck after that, or how he was able to afford to move into Stevenson Ranch in November. Neighbors said Beck lived with a girlfriend who worked at a nearby restaurant.

"He was home a lot, so he would talk to all the women in the neighborhood," said one resident, Jill Stones. Another neighbor, Lisa Willes, said "Jim" tended a beautiful garden and walked his German shepherd daily.

One neighbor asked to see Beck's badge, Stones said. He showed one, "but it didn't look legitimate," she said.

Stones said Beck had a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that he kept covered up. About three weeks ago, as he worked on the bike, a number of neighbors used their binoculars to watch. When he lifted up the cover, they wrote the license plate number down and sent it to authorities.

It was that tip that led to Friday's fatal visit by a team of federal and local authorities.

[i][b]"If you're not part of the Solution,
you're part of the problem"[/i][/b]

sgb

Must've dug deep for this one.  My God, he was even a liar!!!  Next they'll say his socks had holes in them.  

Sometimes a Dirtbag is just that, a Dirtbag. And no matter how hard some may wish it wasn't true it won't change the fact he was a Dirtbag.

[i][b]"If you're not part of the Solution,
you're part of the problem"[/i][/b]

sgb

I agree this situation could and should have been handled better by the Officers involved.

[i][b]"If you're not part of the Solution,
you're part of the problem"[/i][/b]

sgb

Site me [b]ONE[/b] example of any Officer on this board supporting the shooting of anything other than the suspect. Please, just one example of anyone supporting shooting at a non specific threat.

[i][b]"If you're not part of the Solution,
you're part of the problem"[/i][/b]

sgb

Site me ONE example of any Officer on this board supporting the shooting of anything other than the suspect. Please, just one example of anyone supporting shooting at a non specific threat.

"If you're not part of the Solution,
you're part of the problem"

sgb

Don't you think the degree of emotion expressed here against these types of incidents stems from the past ten years, or so, frequency of them?  There was the fire-bombing of that house full of leftist radicals in (I think) Philadelphia back in the late '60's or so, but other than that I do not recall LEO's doing things like this.  Waco--MUCH collateral damage, Ruby Ridge--ONLY collateral damage, this incident--neighboring homes being shot to hell.  Did you see the video footage from the beginning of Waco?  Those ATF agents were shooting indiscriminately at the house, knowing there were women/children inside.  They were ostensibly there to "save" them.  This seems to be a pattern taking hold throughout the country.  

AGREED ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !  

None of the LEO on this board (that I have observed) have in any way shape or form supported any of these inappropriate police actions.

However, many wish to attack all for the actions of a few. [u]Many use the actions of the few to categorize and vilify the group[LEO] as a whole.[/u] (sound familiar) Some on this board [b]HATE[/b] and reason does not enter into it for them.  Awfull hard to deal with a man full of hate.

[i][b]"If you're not part of the Solution,
you're part of the problem"[/i][/b]

sgb
 


 

None taken

It doesn't. However Mr. Beck in this incident is not an innocent victim of this event. Mr. Beck was in this case a Dirtbag.

[blue]dirt·bag [dúrt bàg ] (plural dirt·bags) noun (slang)

1.  offensive term:  an offensive term that deliberately insults somebody's character[/blue]

He WAS the MAJOR contributing factor to this incident. Mr. Beck was a CRIMINAL, in the pursuit {allegedly} of CRIMINAL activity.

Agree or disagree on the legality of the Search Warrant, he had no justification to open fire at the Officers or to put the neighbors at risk by doing so. Anyone who thinks so is in my opinion NUTS.

Most of the defense of Mr. Beck comes with a  lack of credible evidence and spurred I believe by a dislike/distrust and or Hatred of some or all Law Enforcement.

I don't defend Waco, ruby ridge and the likes of Lubbock(?) Swat. I don't advocate unquestioning obedience to the state.

However, I strongly don't advocate the Killing of Law Enforcement Officers as some on this board are so obviously eager to do.

Based on the information available as of this time I believe Mr. Beck got what Mr. Beck asked for. I also believe that the actions of some of the LEO's and Agencies involved bear strong scrutiny as should any action committed by Law Enforcement resulting in injury or death.

[i][b]"If you're not part of the Solution,
you're part of the problem"[/i][/b]

sgb